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I've always had kind of a fondness for less-than-common things.
Of all the guns I've owned in my 41 years, I've only ever had two lever actions, and neither was a .30-30. I used to have a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and I currently have a Win. 94 in .44 mag.
I've got a couple of comparative oddballs among my mil-surps and was just curious to see what others have. Not that they're really all that rare, just ones that you don't see all that often.
A couple of months ago I picked up a Spanish FR-8 in excellent condition at a very good price. For those of you who don't know, the FR-8 was something of a transitional arm and a second-line reserve arm for the Spanish military after WWII and in the first years of their transition over to the CETME. Spain had adopted the model 98 Mauser in 8mm as their official military rifle in 1943. After the war, when everyone in NATO was headed ".308-wards" they hit upon the idea of converting their large ring 98 Mausers over to .308 in a setup that would give a similar look and feel as the CETME. They rebarreled the Mausers with a CETME-esque barrel, complete w/ the hooded front sight and flash suppressor; put a short faux gas tube under the barrel to facilitate the mounting of the front sight and the bayonet, that was actually just a hollow spot to tote a cleaning kit; put a rear peep sight mounted on the rear receiver ring that was graduated for 100, 200, 300, and 400 meters through individual peeps on a rotating disc, and there they had it. Same sight picture as a CETME, same bayonet, same length, same caliber, etc.
My other comparative oddity I picked up at the Jackson gun show last year. It's a Mosin-Nagant model 91/59. It's a carbine like the M-44 and M-38, and is usually mistaken for an M-38 since it's carbine length and doesn't have a bayonet like the -44. Other than the stamping that types it as a 91/59, the only diff. between it and an M-38 is a very slight diff. in the way the front sight is made. 7.62x54R.net has a good tutorial that shows the diffs in the various M-Ns and they have a good illustration of the front sight diff between the M-38 and the 91/59.
Anyone else?
Of all the guns I've owned in my 41 years, I've only ever had two lever actions, and neither was a .30-30. I used to have a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and I currently have a Win. 94 in .44 mag.
I've got a couple of comparative oddballs among my mil-surps and was just curious to see what others have. Not that they're really all that rare, just ones that you don't see all that often.
A couple of months ago I picked up a Spanish FR-8 in excellent condition at a very good price. For those of you who don't know, the FR-8 was something of a transitional arm and a second-line reserve arm for the Spanish military after WWII and in the first years of their transition over to the CETME. Spain had adopted the model 98 Mauser in 8mm as their official military rifle in 1943. After the war, when everyone in NATO was headed ".308-wards" they hit upon the idea of converting their large ring 98 Mausers over to .308 in a setup that would give a similar look and feel as the CETME. They rebarreled the Mausers with a CETME-esque barrel, complete w/ the hooded front sight and flash suppressor; put a short faux gas tube under the barrel to facilitate the mounting of the front sight and the bayonet, that was actually just a hollow spot to tote a cleaning kit; put a rear peep sight mounted on the rear receiver ring that was graduated for 100, 200, 300, and 400 meters through individual peeps on a rotating disc, and there they had it. Same sight picture as a CETME, same bayonet, same length, same caliber, etc.
My other comparative oddity I picked up at the Jackson gun show last year. It's a Mosin-Nagant model 91/59. It's a carbine like the M-44 and M-38, and is usually mistaken for an M-38 since it's carbine length and doesn't have a bayonet like the -44. Other than the stamping that types it as a 91/59, the only diff. between it and an M-38 is a very slight diff. in the way the front sight is made. 7.62x54R.net has a good tutorial that shows the diffs in the various M-Ns and they have a good illustration of the front sight diff between the M-38 and the 91/59.
Anyone else?
